The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-04-02

nOtn1ng be lOsU, OF as IL IeduS III INC NOH
version,-"Gath up the broken pieces which
remain over, that nothing be lost" John
vi. 12.l
The text embodies the thought l
shall attempt to present under the title
of 1.-THE Unfinished" 1t has to do with
that wonderful event, said to have Ia
ken place at Bethsaida, not of Galilee,
where, according to the account given,
five thousand persons were fed from
five loaves of bread and two fishes. Of
what is termed the miracle l shall not
speak. 1 have no purpose now to take
up such questions and discuss them in
tbeologic terms.
In the material universe every atom
has its place. Nature is a strict econ
omist. Not particle of earth, not a
grain of sand, no star. dust is scattered
to be wasted and forever lost. Here is
wonderful realm for thought,-for
everywhere, from dew-drop to planet,
from minutest jot up to vast systems
of worlds, all are subservient to what l
shall term the economy of God.
What interchange going on contin-
ually ! The very water Of our rivers,
lakes and seas, purified by action, and
by that action, not losing, but re-
ceiving as it gives, and gathering to
itself new force and new utility. In
contemplating all this, am reminded
of the Psalmist's words "Such knowl-
edge is too wonderful for me; it is
high, / cannot attain unto it." All
about us, beneath our feet, are loca-
tons that are called 'the worlds burial
Places" and yet these have been term
ed, "the finger-mark of God" Thus,
when viewed Alright no life is fruitless
in the supreme economy, and out from
what we designate as death, comes the
footprints of the progress of creation,
and the existence Of ages not yet fore
told. Thus with Tennyson we feel
THAT nothing walks with aimless feet,
That not one life shall be destroyed,
Or cast as rubbish to the void,
When God hath made the pile complete"
Go, ponder for awhile with the geolo-
gist and the student in astronomy, and
note creations epochs, and the plane
tary system. What schemes and con-
summations Nothing wasted, moth
ing lostl ENDS foreshadowed through
almost an eternity of years !" Here
and there in this and that contribu-
ting, in order that the premeditated
work may conclude at last in victory
What some may deem as indications
of incompleteness, even these point on
ward, and contain links of that far-off
time when the unfinished no longer
shall be, but completion and triumph
reign supreme. No absolute wreck or
ruin, nothing endlessly lost, but life
rising out of life as 1.-THE overcoming
mornings Of eternal day."
There can be no failures with the
Infinite. No defeats where he has
purposed victory. No ever opposing
power to Illustrate his holy will. No
rebellion anywhere that he cannot quell.
"He makes the wrath of man to praise
him." What appears as a dark or
bending line meets somewhere in the
center of his love. He cannot contem-
plate the unfinished, for what is even
wished with him, is done. No ever
perditioned soul to woe and agony that
be once created for the amending joy
and the everlasting glory. He gathers
infinitely, and in the consummation
which he designs, no fragments, no
broken pieces, appear. All are utilized as
he determined. No endless despair.
No divine hopes forever deferred. No
holy loves unblest, and no soul forgot
ten. No sacred purposes unfinished,
but completion, perfection and final
destination reached. In these the hui
man soul is victorious forever.
Think Of it, amid the centuries only
one life has triumphantly uttered for
the world II have finished the work
which thou gavest me to do" or as
termed the truest in translation, 81
have gloriied thee on the earth, having
accomplished the work which thou
gavest me to do"
To finish then, any holy mission, is
divine, and yet these unfinished tasks,
are they not of God too I? Who linn
its human capacity? Who circumscribes
human being and its longings Who
hedges in our thought, and why find we
in our thinking depths we are powerless
to fathOm ? Why are we finite, when
at times within there come such aspi-
rations, such intents and such desires &?
Moments are ours, when in our flutter-
ing, we beat our wings like little birds
against what cages us in. Yet when
content for awhile within our bounds,
il is ours to remember how humanity
has resembled the might and grandeur
of heaven, and enacted deeds none other
than supreme.
Notice what research employs or en-
cages the minds of men What con-
quests for human welfare What for
ces utilized and tanned to the controll-
ing touch of mankind And yet in all
this, who knows the end E? 1t is the
marvel Of our time, and in which there
must abide the achieving spirit of eter-